British Scientists Frightened by Shrubbery

This UK Guardian article was actually kind of funny. You don't see wacko paranoia come this thick very often. Well, Ok, I just made that up. Actually it's a daily feature of the Guardian.

Thousands of Britons may be forced to wear charcoal masks and stay indoors this summer to avoid deadly fogs of ozone that will pollute the country during heatwaves, scientists have warned.

Oooo… He said "deadly fogs". Kewl.

They have discovered that last August's heatwave caused plants and trees to release waves of a chemical called isoprene, which contributes to the production of ozone in the air. Scientists now believe ozone killed up to 600 people last summer.

Gee. That's hardly a drop in the bucket compared to the 13,000 dead Frenchman last summer, now isn't it? My question would be what do doctors believe, not the moonbat global warming freaks.

Temperatures topped 100F (37.7C) last summer for the first time since UK records began, and similarly intense heatwaves will become increasingly frequent as global warming intensifies. Current projections suggest they could happen ten times more often,' said Professor Alan Thorpe, of the Centres of Atmospheric Science. 'Among all our other problems, we are going to deal with severe ozone pollution.'

Boy, terrified aren't they. Unfortunately Britain may find 100F temperatures unusual, but 50 out of 50 states in the US have exceeded the mark. California has a month where the average high is 98F, and its record is 137F. Only 11 US states still have record highs less than 110F, and life certainly didn't stop for us when Oregon hit 119F, so perhaps the UK scientists should suck up and buck up, because by US standards Britain just isn't ever going to amount to a very hot place.

Ozone, which is particularly dangerous for children, old people and asthmatics, is produced when strong sunlight breaks up the nitrogen oxides released by car exhausts. In recent years Britain has made major improvements in reducing these oxide levels in the air, and hopes rose that the problem was under control.

But as we'll see, it was all for naught, since paranoid moonbats simply must worry about something that's supposed to kill everyone.

But the latest ozone study, carried out by a team led by Alastair Lewis, of York University and funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, has discovered that a dangerous new factor arises when temperatures soar into the high 30s.

Oh, I'm sure a group like the Natural Environment Research Council would find something that's about to kill us all. After all, that's how they scare up their funding.

'We went to Chelmsford to study ozone and isoprene levels last year,' said Lewis. 'By chance, we picked the two weeks of the heatwave. What we discovered was startling. When the temperature reached the high 90s and topped 100, plants and trees ... start to produce greatly increased amounts.'

Do you really think they were there "by chance"? I'd say they were there to monitor the production of isoprene in relation to temperature. And why are the plants pumping out isoprene as a thermal response? To protect themselves against the damaging effects of ozone, as this link points out. We also knew that isoprene contributes to the formation of atmospheric ozone, though through a complex set of reactions that even now aren't well understood, as this research points out. So exactly what did this British team actually accomplish, other than confirm what everyone already knew they'd find while getting a Chicken Little article published in the Guardian? Yet there's an upside to this that they won't tell you, which is that quite fortunately isoprene production is reduced by higher concentrations of atmospheric CO2.

Integrated over that growing season, the net ecosystem production of isoprene in the 800- and 1200-ppm mesocosms was reduced by 21% and 41%, respectively.

Hmm.. Now why wouldn't anyone want to report that? I wonder.

It is thought that isoprene acts as a kind of heat-shock molecule, protecting leaves from damage when temperatures rise above 35C. When plants are short of water, they produce even more.

Well hey, just water the oak trees and maybe you can cut back on it a bit.

However, in the atmosphere isoprene acts as a catalyst driving the rate at which sunlight breaks down nitrogen oxide and turns it into ozone. The more isoprene there is, the more ozone is generated, effectively wiping out the moderate success the government has had in reducing levels.

Aww… That's so sad. *sniff* All that wasted effort. Someone hand me a tissue.

Britain's new midsummer heatwaves are therefore likely to have severe consequences. European law states that governments must inform the public when hourly concentrations of ozone rise above 180 microgrammes per cubic metre. On 6 August last year, ozone levels over London peaked at 300 microgrammes. Other high spots were found in East Anglia and the Midlands.

Woot! He said "European law". Frightening isn't it? And this in an article that's essentially about the lethal danger presented by English shrubbery.

The impact on the public was dramatic. One study by the Office of National Statistics indicated that 2,000 more people died in August 2003 compared with the same month in previous years. But calculations by John Stedman, at the National Environmental Technology Centre, indicate that these deaths were not all caused by heat stress and deyhdration, as was initially supposed.

No, some were probably caused by the same lack of private health care and air conditioning that killed off those 13,000 Frenchmen. After all, with an expected monthly death rate in excess of 50,000 just due to natural causes, there's bound to be something they can fudge.

Between 225 and 593 were caused by ozone, Stedman estimated. Many thousands of others suffered extreme distress, such as museum clerk Alison Bottomley, of Nottingham, who suffers from asthma. 'I had to stay indoors last summer to get away from the ozone. It was awful. I could hardly breathe. I tried a charcoal mask but it restricted my breathing. I had to lie or sit down till the heatwave went away.'

Between 225 and 593 were caused by ozone? That's it? Not 592 or maybe 594? Do you think maybe it was instead the record heatwave and lack of air conditioning? After all, we have states where the highs have topped 130F, Israel has hit 129F, and they're trying to scare people about 99F?

While most advice for dealing with the heat involves staying in the shade and drinking plenty of water, the response to pollution by ozone, which irritates the lining of the lung, is more draconian. Vulnerable individuals are told to avoid major road junctions (where car exhaust levels are high), stay indoors and wear masks.

Well when it's 99F outside shouldn't everyone be staying indoors?

The team's discovery will intensify calls for Britain to introduce even tougher new regulations to reduce emissions of car exhaust gases, the basic ingredient that fuels ozone production.

But wait! They just said the ozone pumped out by the trees had made the car regulations for naught! Doesn't this mean Britain can give up on the vehicle emissions program and instead institute a massive plan for deforestation, to kill all those ozone producing oak trees? Oh, sorry, that would violate the premise of trying to eliminate modern civilization and turn Britain back to the days of the Druids. Maybe they should re-examine their research, because the way I read the article it basically says "Kill a tree, save a child."